But particularly when the media profess to strive toward objectivity, gatekeepers play a crucial role in helping people navigate the news to make educated political decisions.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The things journalists should pay attention to are the issues the political leadership agrees on, rather than to their supposed antagonisms.
A journalist covering politics, most of us are aware of the necessity to try to be sure we're unbiased in our reporting. That's one of the fundamentals of good journalism.
I don't believe that there's such a thing as objectivity in much of journalism, but I think there is a serious effort to and a regard for facts and into taking that stuff seriously is very important to the public discourse and it's very important to democracy.
Public opinion can be influential, the media can be influential.
In essence, I see the value of journalism as resting in a twofold mission: informing the public of accurate and vital information, and its unique ability to provide a truly adversarial check on those in power.
The democratic approach to news is a very valuable thing. We're always going to be dependent on the quality of reporting of mainstream media.
In so many of the other beats these days, there are these layers of public relations people that you have to go through to get to the newsmakers themselves.
If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.
Public opinion shapes our destinies and guides the progress of human affairs.
In journalism, as in politics, other people's lives are a currency to be bartered on behalf of notoriety and influence.